EVANSVILLE — Chance Coyle had opportunities to play Division I basketball. He could’ve stretched out his recruitment, let more offers come in, and then picked the best suitor.

But unlike so many of his peers, he didn’t care about going D-I. He simply wanted to feel comfortable, preferably at a school that truly wanted him, too.

Coyle, who owns Bloomington South’s all-time scoring record, visited the University of Southern Indiana early in the school year and was invited by the players to join them in practice.

“They treated me like I’d been on the team all year and they had known me all their lives,” he said.

His parents Neil and Amy attended USI in the 1990s and Neil was a member of the 1995 national championship team. USI already represented home to them. Coyle quickly felt the same.

He had planned to wait until December to make a final decision. The 6-foot-4 Coyle committed to USI on Oct. 23 and will follow in his father’s footsteps.

“I’m glad I did because I might not have had the season I did if I hadn’t committed,” said Coyle, who is one of two incoming freshmen along with Boonville’s Glen Rouch.

Coyle said he had D-I offers from Army, Air Force and Lipscomb and D-II offers from Hillsdale and Indianapolis (coached by one of his father’s best friends and former teammate, Stan Gouard). Nearly a dozen other mid-majors were interested, including other nearby schools in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Assistant coach Brent Owen spearheaded Coyle’s recruitment. Yet he and the staff also felt he was destined for D-I, especially after he played for arguably the state’s best AAU program, Indiana Elite, last summer.

USI first saw Coyle as a sophomore when he went head-to-head with New Albany phenom Romeo Langford during the Seymour Regional. Coyle wasn’t intimidated by Langford’s hype or talent.

“At that point, we knew that was the kid we wanted to have,” coach Rodney Watson said. “Very rarely does it play out where it ends up this way, but we’re very excited to not only get his talent but also a guy who really wants to be here.”

Chance Coyle (right) is defended by Romeo Langford during a game between Bloomington South and New Albany. Coyle will be a second-generation USI player next year.(Photo: Provided)

Neil, who was a 6-foot-8 forward, stopped by Watson’s office after he got the head coaching job in 2009. The two hadn’t met and weren’t too familiar with one another, but Watson soon realized how much Neil and the other 1990s players cared about their alma mater.

He later saw that same type of passion in Coyle.

“Coach Watson and coach Owen really made an emphasis that this was a place I was wanted and they were sure to tell me that I’ll enjoy basketball while I’m here,” Coyle said.

He averaged 19.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game this past season for Bloomington South, which finished 26-3 and won a sectional championship all four years he was a student. His 1,554 points are the fourth-most scored by any Monroe County player.

"I think I play harder than everybody else on the court," he said.

Coyle isn’t originally from Bloomington. He grew up Campbellsburg and seemed destined to also attend West Washington High School, as his parents did, until the Coyles moved when he was in seventh grade.

By his freshman year, he had already become a favorite of the student body for his newnickname, "Bobby Buckets."

Coyle was shooting around with a teammate during an open gym before the season and they were jabbing each other with friendly trash talk.

“I started making a bunch of shots and told him, ‘Look, now you have to deal with Bobby Buckets on your team,’” Coyle said. “And it just kind of stuck from there. From then on, I didn’t get Chance Coyle ever.”

Chance Coyle owns Bloomington South's all-time scoring record with 1,554 points. He will play at the University of Southern Indiana.(Photo: Jeremy Hogan / Herald-Times)

It stuck and he’s embraced it. His Twitter name is Bobby. Surely, it will continue once he’s at USI, especially with the bond he’s established with the returning Eagles. Alex Stein, another second-generation USI player, has seemingly taken Coyle under his wing and was one of the first people to publicly congratulate him for committing.

Coyle was named a "Supreme 15" Indiana All-Star and will play alongside Langford and the rest of the state's best players this summer. But he also doesn’t play any other sports, so he’s already itching to spend time on campus with his new teammates.

More than anything, he’s eager to wear “Southern Indiana” across his chest. Just like his father.

“I have some expectations for myself,” Coyle said. “My dad won a national championship and I would like to try to do that, too. Maybe even do more than him.”